Overview of Pirelli MT66-Route Tire

Good handling characteristics and increased rider comfort for cruiser and high-mileage motorcycles

NOTE:

Dennis Kirk recommends a new tube and rim strip when replacing a tube-type tire

Safety Warning: Please consult tire manufacturers publication(s) and/or website(s) for information on tire care, safety, installation, maintenance, manufacturers warranty and other information. The tires used for your application must have a load index and speed rating equal to or greater than the tires fitted as original equipment.

I would like to say i first got hooked on my mt66 back when i had a kawaski 900. Then i brought a yamaha royal star venture ( midnight ) and took it on a 5000 mile ride up the blue ridge and into the north eastern states. As i was coming down I-95 it was rainning very hard and i had a tralier i was pulling , and i had the mt 66 on the front and back of my bike . just like the description says it did the job for me . i will not use any other tires on this bike or the next one i get. it handle in the rain , it has a smoother ride to me and i put nitro in them too. So if you are looking for a good tire try the mt 66 front and back .Also i got up to 18,000 out of my rear tire and about 22,300 on my front . and dennis kirk has never let me down when i order from them. the prices are GREAT.

I have almost 8000 miles on a set of 66's and they appear to be about 1/2 worn...The wet traction is good and I like the handling...I think it is a good value for the price '07 C90 Suzuki and I have the pressure at 38....40 PSI

I the 170/80-15 on my yamaha V-Star and was very happy with the performance. Right away I could feel the difference in traction on pavement and dirt roads. I've put 10,000 on this tire and it appears to only be 50-60 % worn. Excelent quality and price. Buy them for your cruiser and try them out

While the first few hundred miles was a bit stiff, these tires are great. I use my bike as a commuter on the highway. I don't go hard into the curves or particularly care to ride in the rain. Part of this is because of the soft grip my stock tires had. While the rubber seemed hard initially, the amount of grip this tire has increased my riding confidence. The drift when going over rain/pavement lines is also noticeably down.

I have a 05 Honda VLX 600, I wanted to get away from the stock tire. I always like Pirelli on my cars. So I wanted to try it out for my bike. I must say Great job! I have over 25,000 miles on both front and rear MT66 tires and they still show 30% of life. I have recommended this tire to all my friends. The only thing I don't like is they don't come in white letters.. But I fixed that with model paint! I ride in all kinda of weather and I'm very happy with the tires. I'll buy them again!

I put the 130/90-16 on my yamaha v-star and notice the traction and control right away on pavement and dirt. This is a great all around tire for your cruiser. I got 10,000 + miles out of this tire and and I;m very happy with the price, quality, and performance of the tire. You should try them out on your cruiser, plus the price is right.

This is my 3rd one of these (across 2 bikes) and they are lasting about 50-60% longer than the stock Dunlop tires. They are less expensive and they ride better and grip as well as better as those original tires. I won't use anything else.

I ride a 1998 Sportster. These tires, I got the pair, feel very secure. Better slow speed stability than stock Dunlops. I have not had them in the rain yet, but I feel they would perform very well. I am very pleased with these Pirelli's, and will continue using these tires.

I purchased this tire, as well as a matching rear tire, based off of the reviews I read over many websites about how great these tires are. I had high hopes however once these tires were installed I went on a 1000 mile trip and the front would shake between 35 and 60 mph. I stopped at a shop on the road in the SW and they spent a few hours diagnosing he shake. My mc is a 2013 Vulcan 900 custom and this was the first tire change with less than 10000 miles on the bike I bought new. I transported it back home and a local Pirelli dealer stated he tire had a mfg defect and replaced the tire. The second tire had the same defect right off the bat so more troubleshooting led to the discovery of the same defect in this tire. Dennis Kirk customer service is stellar and was sympathetic to my issue and issued a refund for the tire. Clearly Pirelli lost a customer and I went back to Michelins which I have used racing and touring for years. Well my experience has me out of 200 dollars for dealership troubleshooting, towing costs and weeks of anguish and long garage nights.

I purchased front & rear 66's for my '03 Suzuki VL 1500 LC and I couldn't be happier! I've run other brands of tires and I can say the Pirellis are just GREAT. They handle superbly on dry pavement. My bike handles the curves like it is riding on rails. As for wet roads; they handle the water very well. In fact, just rode over 50 miles from work on light to moderately wet roads and only and just a slight rear-end 'wiggle' when I had to do a sudden stop.

The price (and there is no beating Dennis Kirk) is great and the performance is even better!!!

I put 1 of these on my 03 Honda shadow a.c.e. around the same time 2 years ago. I rides as much as possible during the warm months. I ride @ 5k a yr. I believe a tire should last more than 10k miles. I won't buy anymore of these & wouldn't recommend them to any1.

Cannot give performance review as tire is not mounted on wheel as yet. This review is for Dennis Kirk, and is rated exceptional.The manufacturer's date on tire indicated tire is only about 8 months old, which is not long at all for a new tire. Shipping time, along with free shipping, pricing of product, and ease of ordering on-line gives Dennis Kirk an exceptional rating. By the visual inspection, I suspect this tire will preform exceptionally as well.

I bought this tire and the matching front one. I'm really happy with my choices. They look great and the delivery was quick. You can't beat this tire for the price. I think there are more expensive tires that aren't as good. This tire has a really good tread pattern too.

These tires look good and ride very nice. These tires can also be used with tubes on spoked wheels as on my Kawasaki VN900 Classic LT. Can not attest to durability as I've just installed them. I live in western Carolina so 3/4 of my riding is on twisty mountain roads. My previous tire was a Dunlop 404 and got 6200 miles on them before they wore out. The MT66 rides better than the Dunlop's and I hope they will give me a bit more mileage.

Great price for a Pirelli tire. It is round, which is good for a tire. performance is good in general riding.. Only time will tell about mileage/ wear. I don't ride in wet weather, that's what my car is for.Very happy with purchase.

I have used this tire on my prior honda and averaged 18,000 miles per set. This is the first time I am using it on my HD and was glad they carry the size for it. Everyone I know who is using this tire gets great mileage out of them and is very pleased with them. Dennis Kirk sales staff was excellent and the tire arrived quickly.

I love these Pirelli MT66 Route tires. Great handling in wet or dry conditions. Really hug the road while cornering. If you do alot of highway touring, then you might want to go with a harder compound tire to get more miles with less wear. If you like riding the twisties, then this tire provides superior grip at a very affordable price. I am on my third set of these and won't go back to anything else for my cruizer.

but I ride pretty hard on mostly twistie mtn roads squeezed 6500 out of this tire. Much better than the factory Dunlops. Had great grip on dry pavement all the way down to 1/8" of tread, On wet roads grip began to lessen at about 1/4" tread. I am ordering the same tire as a replacement because for the price you can't beat them.

I've run these for a while now and found them to be a little longer lasting than the Dunlop 404/402 series tires. I like the handling traits and the look of the tire. The reason I can't give a higher rating is because the last one I used (front) blistered in 3 places. Naturally I was about 200 miles from home when I spotted them. This made for a slow nervous trip back to the barn.

I had these tires on a 2003 Harley-Davidson Electra-Glide Standard - FLHT and was only able to get 5,000 miles out of them before they started showing the core. They were great on the handling just do not last

I bought this set of Pirelli MT66 die to recommendations and price point. Had them installed today and they were as advertised and commented on. If I get the mileage I've seen in comments then I'm a lifer as I am very happy and impressed with the tires. Thanks Dennis Kirk for everything, I'll be buying again.

The tire is exactly what I wanted. Great tire and a great price. I also bought the same tire (diiferent size) for the back. Great looking tire with great tread pattern. Shipping was quick and they're packaged well.

I bought this rear tire and the matching front tire from Dennis Kirk a few weeks ago. They arrived when promised and I had them mounted and balanced at a local independent shop for around $50.00 front and rear. The local stealership wanted around $300.00 just for the rear tire mounted and balanced. Once again, I turned to Dennis Kirk for their excellent pricing and fast delivery.

I originally wanted Metzler's because of the good reviews I read about their ME880's. However, I think I'll be just as pleased with these tires. Good grip, good wet-weather traction and a smooth ride. I've only put around 250 miles on these tires so far so I don't know how they'll hold up, but so far I'm pleased overall.

We at Dennis Kirk, always recommend the stock tire size for premium safety and performance. If you choose to upsize a tire, you will have to check clearance levels of drive, fender and brakes, which unfortunately we do not have access to. Please remember tire size changes may effect bike control and traction

I just purchased this tire from Dennis Kirk. It looks good upon visual inspection. However, the date stamp on the tire is yr. 2012. So out of the box, the tire is going on 5 years old. This doesn't seem quite honest to me. If the attractive pricing on this tire is because it's an "older" new tire, then shouldn't Dennis Kirt state that in the description? So this begs the question: most "experts" state that a tire should be replaced after it's 8 to 9 years old; so, does that time begin with the tire date stamp, or does it begin when the tire is mounted to the rim?

BEST ANSWER:Hi Edward, I get most all my tires from DK and have never had any problems with Pirelli MT66 which I run on the rear but I had 2 Metzler ME880 that started cracking around the sidewall at just over a year on the bike (Honda Shadow Sabre 2002) I run the Pirelli MT66 on rear and Me880 front because Pirelli quit making the MT66 in size 18 rim. they work very well together, been doing that many years now. That being said All tires I have received from JK have been within 2 years old when mounted. I would feel better with a newer tire than 5 years old, iff you are a high mileage rider then the 5 year old tire will most likely last you till next tire change. I would contact DK and request a newer tire if you are concerned. I paid about the same for my MT66 rear about a year ago and it's date is 2116 (July 1916) so the price is not because they are old, I think they just grabbed the first one they came to. The time starts from time of manufacturing. Hope this helps, Larry

First, i should apologize to Dennis Kirk; they didn't sell me a tire that was 4 1/2 years old. In fact, the tire is about 8 months old past manufacturing date. I read the wrong numbers on the tire as the date code; in fact, the actual date code is 1916. i.e., 19th week in year 2016. Sorry I jumped the gun on this one; still, I did learn some things from the various relies. Hopefully, others did too. regards, edf

BEST ANSWER:Hi Edward, I get most all my tires from DK and have never had any problems with Pirelli MT66 which I run on the rear but I had 2 Metzler ME880 that started cracking around the sidewall at just over a year on the bike (Honda Shadow Sabre 2002) I run the Pirelli MT66 on rear and Me880 front because Pirelli quit making the MT66 in size 18 rim. they work very well together, been doing that many years now. That being said All tires I have received from JK have been within 2 years old when mounted. I would feel better with a newer tire than 5 years old, iff you are a high mileage rider then the 5 year old tire will most likely last you till next tire change. I would contact DK and request a newer tire if you are concerned. I paid about the same for my MT66 rear about a year ago and it's date is 2116 (July 1916) so the price is not because they are old, I think they just grabbed the first one they came to. The time starts from time of manufacturing. Hope this helps, Larry

First, i should apologize to Dennis Kirk; they didn't sell me a tire that was 4 1/2 years old. In fact, the tire is about 8 months old past manufacturing date. I read the wrong numbers on the tire as the date code; in fact, the actual date code is 1916. i.e., 19th week in year 2016. Sorry I jumped the gun on this one; still, I did learn some things from the various relies. Hopefully, others did too. regards, edf

Yes I would think five-years-old is a little bit older than I would expect however a few things to consider, first of all the tire was not exposed to the elements for the years it was in storage secondly motorcycle tires are somewhat different from an automobile Tires in several ways, motorcycles normally are parked in doors in the garage where it's not exposed to the elements even after installation. A motorcycle tire is changed much more frequently than an automobile tire is as well. As far as the time stamp goes be honest I don't know what date they go by it probably begins with the time stamp and the date of manufacture this is just my opinion. Remember it's a motorcycle always be careful with everything related to the motorcycle so I would always keep an eye on the tires make sure you never see dry rot even though I think it's unlikely always look out for any problems with the tires.

I was in error and I apologize to Dennis Kirk; the tire they sent was only 8 months old, not 4 1/2 yrs old.I got online and researched the date code location on Pirelli tires. The tire I purchased was date coded 1916 (19th week, yr 2016). I jumped the gun on this one; should have done research first before gettingexcited!

Replacement of things after so many years is a safeguard against deterioration. They have to have a much longer lifespan to be safe. The time is from manufacture date. I have always went by my judgement on things like that. If your tire looks good and looks new, meaning no dry rot I would trust it as a new tire. Child seats are 5 years, even for a booster that is just a piece of plastic. I'm guessing the warehouse was faulty for old tire and not just old stock with all parts. I personally have used tires that are 17 years old and stored inside with no ill effects. I did put them on a trailer used to haul 3000 pounds and they were still holding air when replaced two years later due to thorns and brush ripping them numerous times. If they look good enjoy them, it is a great tire

Tires are generally developed and produced so that the production features remain effective for their entire life span. Still, each tire is subject to an ageing process, which also occurs during storage. Due to the different profiles, rubber compounds and constructions the ageing process is different for each tire. The tire manufacturers add substances to their rubber compounds, which slow down the ageing process. If a tire is stored properly it will keep its full performance even after several years (up to 5 years) and will be considered "as new". The age limits generally is around 10 years - a tire should not be mounted and used thereafter. If a manufacturer asserts different recommendations, they must be complied with.

I suspect DK passed off the answer to this question to a customer to avoid answering. As far as I know, the date on tire is date of manufacturing. Hence, the date on record for adjustments to value of tire.I have no problem wearing out a tire in 5 years, so I welcome the lower $.

BEST ANSWER:I had a 79 FLH and used Dunlop K591 Elite's. That was in the early 90's though. I just ordered a set of Pirelli MT 66's for my 1983 FLHT Classic. On the Pirelli website they were one of the tires for my bike. I will review them when installed. The sidewall is 4 ply and a load rating C/805 lbs. for the rear. The bike has tour pack and hard bags. It has Dunlop 402's on it now. I wanted something that was going to give me better handling on the back roads. The 402's are a touring tire. I look for strong sidewall for the FL's.

BEST ANSWER:I had a 79 FLH and used Dunlop K591 Elite's. That was in the early 90's though. I just ordered a set of Pirelli MT 66's for my 1983 FLHT Classic. On the Pirelli website they were one of the tires for my bike. I will review them when installed. The sidewall is 4 ply and a load rating C/805 lbs. for the rear. The bike has tour pack and hard bags. It has Dunlop 402's on it now. I wanted something that was going to give me better handling on the back roads. The 402's are a touring tire. I look for strong sidewall for the FL's.

I installed this tire front and rear on a Kawasaki Vulcan and it was a great tire for that application. Was much better than the stock Dunlop's. However Harley is a different animal and I can't say how it would work for that application. I have an '05 FLHTCI and run the Dunlop 402 tire specifically made for HD and they work great.

I loved my route 66 got about 13k out of it and it was a smooth ride ide definitely reccomend these tires. I have recently moved to metzler 888 mainly because its what came on a bike i bought but ill prolly be going back to the route 66 for the cost.

The MT 66-RTE 130/90H Blackwall has the great traction of a soft compound rubber with the long wear high mileage of a hard compound tire. Don't know how they combined the two, but it's an excellent tire.

Is the speed rating for the 100/90-19 Pirelli MT 66-Route S or H. Your literature says both. Will this be a good choice for my 2005 Kawasaki Vulcan VN750A? Also considering the matching 150/90-15 MT 66 for the rear.